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Damon Gough, the man behind Badly Drawn Boy, opted to score the film adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel About a Boy instead of recording a regular follow-up to 2000's Hour of Bewilderbeast. Interspersed with short instrumental interludes that serve as lovely miniatures, the songs evoke the book's jaunty mood and (fittingly for something based on a Nick Hornby story) incorporate strands of pop music from the past 40 years with uncommon grace. "Something to Talk About" borrows from Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney yet doesn't feel derivative; "Above You, Below Me" is a charming waltz; the intoxicating "Donna and Blitzen" is pure Phil Spector-does-Christmas. Inspired meetings of this magnitude between film and music are rare enough that this one should be celebrated to the high heavens. --Elisabeth Vincentelli